Noem fast-tracked millions in disaster aid to Florida tourist attraction after donor intervened
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Yonnie3 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: Salon
Published September 28, 2025 6:00AM (EDT)
For months, the complaints have rolled in from parts of the country hit by natural disasters: The Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving far too slowly in sending aid to communities ravaged by floods and hurricanes, including in central Texas and North Carolina. Many officials were blaming Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, whose agency oversees FEMA.
“I can’t get phone calls back,” Ted Budd, the Republican senator from North Carolina, told a newspaper this month, describing his attempts to reach Noem’s office. “I can’t get them to initiate the money. It’s just a quagmire.” The delays were caused in part by a new policy announced by DHS that requires Noem’s personal sign-off on expenses over $100,000, several news outlets reported.
But records obtained by ProPublica show how one locality found a way to get FEMA aid more quickly: It asked one of Noem’s political donors for help. The records show that Noem quickly expedited more than $11 million of federal money to rebuild a historic pier in Naples, Florida, after she was contacted by a major financial supporter last month. The pier is a tourist attraction in the wealthy Gulf Coast enclave and was badly damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Frustrated city officials had been laboring for months, without success, to get disaster assistance. But just two weeks after the donor stepped in, they were celebrating their sudden change of fortune. “We are now at warp speed with FEMA,” one city official wrote in an email. A FEMA representative wrote: “Per leadership instruction, pushing project immediately.”
Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/09/28/noem-fast-tracked-millions-in-disaster-aid-to-florida-tourist-attraction-after-donor-intervened_partner/
The only ones who they respond to - "the donors" (and fuck the impacted people).
= new reply since forum marked as read
From the OP link:
Here's what I needed to know: I was wondering if Noem was responding to her own political donors from South Dakota, or to a local GOP donor in Florida. Sure enough, it's a guy in Florida. Good to know, but it's still corruption without a doubt.
She tosses out tax-payer funds like they're rolls of paper towels in Puerto Rico.
